Utility back Aidan Kirk has been called in to replace Manu Vatuvei and loose forward Micheal Luck returns from a week off for the Vodafone Warriors’ third-round NRL clash against Brisbane at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday night.
The 23-year-old Vatuvei, one of the Vodafone Warriors’ try scorers in their 26-24 win against Manly on Sunday, has a knee injury which is still being fully assessed.
That allows Kirk (23), who played 15 times at NRL level last year, to come onto the left wing outside centre Jerome Ropati.
Also out of the side is interchange prop Leeson Ah Mau, set to be sidelined for a few weeks after he dislocated a shoulder on Sunday.
Returning from the casualty list is vice-captain Luck, named after missing the Manly match after he was knocked out by a heavy Fuifui Moimoi tackle in the season-opening 26-18 win over Parramatta.
He slots back into the No 13 jersey, Sam Rapira is again named as a starting prop – he played in the back row in the opening stanza against Manly – and Russell Packer is again listed on the bench.
Vodafone Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said the opening two weeks of the season had once again underlined how physically demanding the NRL is on the players.
“We ended up losing three players after beating the Eels and, while we beat Manly, it was a brutal battle that certainly left us with some battered players,” he said.
“While we don’t know the full extent of Manu’s injury yet we couldn’t see him being ready for Brisbane so that opens the way for Aidan (Kirk) to have his first NRL run of the year. He did a terrific job for us last year.
“And Lucky has trained well the last few days. It was a good decision to give him the week off.”
Brisbane heads to Auckland with the same two-from-two record as the Vodafone Warriors so far this year.
They started with a 19-18 victory over North Queensland and held out Melbourne 16-14 last Friday night.
“They’ve come off two very tough matches impressively. While we have started with the results we aimed for, this takes it up to another level again because the Broncos just have so much to throw at you from all over the park,” said Cleary.
“We’ll need to be a lot better than we were at times against Manly. While we came back to win the match, there were periods when we weren’t playing as well as we needed.”
Saturday night’s match will be halfback Nathan Fien’s 99th for the club. That will leave him on target to reach his 100th in the home match against South Sydney on April 5, making him just the 13th player to reach the milestone for the Vodafone Warriors.
Stacey Jones, again named on the interchange bench after his match-winning deeds against Manly, will play for the Vodafone Warriors at home for the first time since taking on Newcastle on August 20, 2005.
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
7.30pm, Saturday, March 28
Referees: Jason Robinson and Matt Cecchin
VODAFONE WARRIORS
1 WADE McKINNON
2 DENAN KEMP
3 BRENT TATE
4 JEROME ROPATI
5 AIDAN KIRK
6 JOEL MOON
7 NATHAN FIEN
8 SAM RAPIRA
9 IAN HENDERSON
10 STEVE PRICE (c)
11 SIMON MANNERING
12 JACOB LILLYMAN
13 MICHEAL LUCK
Interchange:
14 STACEY JONES
15 RUSSELL PACKER
16 JESSE ROYAL
17 UKUMA TA’AI
18TH MAN: DANIEL O’REGAN
COACH: IVAN CLEARY
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